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Mashpi Lodge

Ecuador

In the heart of the Andean cloud forest, Mashpi Rainforest Reserve is a biodiversity hotspot to experience natural beauty, biodiversity and eco-adventure, which is also home to pioneering eco-retreat Mashpi Lodge.

This sophisticated and strikingly contemporary lodge is designed as the ideal springboard for exploring the biodiverse world of its reserve. A hideaway in the clouds only accessible to its guests and located on a high plateau, Mashpi Lodge offers views of the forested mountains on one side and the forest right up close on the other through its floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

The Lodge is built with the latest techniques in sustainability, employing hydroelectric power and a sensitive design to ensure it blends in beautifully with its surroundings. Its 22 understated yet luxurious rooms feature contemporary, minimalist decor, mixing warm earth tones, notes of bright colour, clean lines and striking angles and vistas: a luxury cocoon amid the forest with the natural world just beyond, ideal for contemplation and relaxation.

Guests may take to the aerial bicycle for a bird’s-eye view of the forest pedalling their way along a cable around 200m (655 feet) above the ground. The fully fledged “Life Centre” offers up-close and deck-level views of the vast green cloud forest and the delicate observation of the natural wonders within: butterflies, moths, assorted insects, and the beautiful plants and flowers they utilise for food and shelter. Mashpi Lodge is also a dream for bird-watchers, with its surroundings being home to over 500 different species of bird (36 of which are endemic).

When the bold new retreat opened in 2012, it received international media attention winning the Wallpaper* magazine Design Awards for Best Resort and Best Eco Lodge in Outside magazine’s 2012 Annual Travel Awards for its pioneering design and conservation initiatives. Since launch, it has been honoured in the Travel +Leisure 2013 It List and been named the ‘Leading Green Hotel’ in the 2014 World Travel Awards. In January 2015 it was welcomed into the exclusive list of National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World.